Meaning: 1. [Adjective] Designed to evoke remembrance of a person or event. 2. [Noun] A service or artifact designed to evoke remembrance of a person or event.

Notes: The origin of Memorial Day is a bit cloudy. It began during or right after the Civil War as informal trips to cemeteries where flowers were placed on the graves of soldiers fallen in battle. It became such a popular event each spring that General John Logan proclaimed Memorial Day a holiday on May 5, 1868. It was first officially observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers in Arlington Cemetery. It spread, state by state, across the nation; however, the southern states refused to recognize it until after World War I.

In Play: At Alpha Dictionary we are all thinking today of those who have given, are giving, and will give their lives to remove a despot as nefarious as Hitler or Stalin, Saddam Hussein, from power. We are sure we speak for all those who are alive in Iraq and Afghanistan today only because of the sacrifices of US and coalition forces in those countries. It is to the courage of those who continue to make the ultimate sacrifice for democracy and sanity around the world that we dedicate today's Good Word.

Word History: Today's word comes from Late Latin memoriale, the neuter of Latin memorialis "related to memory". The adjective is based on memoria "memory", a partial reduplication of the root *mor-, me-mor-, the initial consonant having been repeated as a prefix. We use the Latin word itself in the phrase in memoriam "in memory (of)", often carved on memorials to those we love and respect. With the suffix –n, the same stem became mourn in English, where wars always lead our memories.

Last edited by Dr. Goodword on Mon May 30, 2005 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Dr. Goodword wrote:Today's word comes from Late Latin memoriale, the neuter of Latin memorialis "related to memory". The adjective is based on memoria "memory", a partial reduplication of the root *mor-, me-mor-, the initial consonant having been repeated as a prefix.